What Love Is
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: "What's love?"


**A/N: Just a little thought I had.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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><p><em>What Love Is<em>

After stretches of silence, snoozing, twitching, and thinking, Ben finally got up the courage to ask something of his best friend. Tearing his eyes away from the building they were staking out, he turned his body towards Kevin, green gaze watching his stony friend's face. "Can I ask you something?" Part of him feared that Kevin would let him ask. Part of him craved an answer. Only time would tell.

"Knock yourself out." Kevin's dark orbs never left the building. He was counting every brick and studying their individual features for the fifth time that night. He knew where every single brick was, the one with the notch in the lower right corner, the one with the shattered face, the one with the long streak along the top like a stripe. "I'm all ears." That, and his radio was broken. He'd ordered parts months ago, but considering a con-man had taken the order, he knew he may never get it.

"What's love?"

Kevin's lips pursed, his brow furrowed, and his chest clenched. His mind instantly captured an image of Gwen, but formulating an answer...

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><p>It's the way she knows.<p>

"Who did you sell it to?" She shoved him against the wall with all the raw force she could muster, all the karate classes finally paying off after years of training. She got him pinned to the wall, cornered like a common crook.

"Gwen. I'm serious, you need to calm down, seriously." The redundancy only struck him after the words had left his lips. "I'm not sellin' stuff to the bad guys anymore, cross my heart, hope to die." He drew a little 'x' on his chest where his heart was. "I can promise you, I'm not doin' the bad stuff anymore."

She shoved him a little harder. Her eyes glared, staring into his soul. Rage made her lips a severe line across her all-too-pretty face. "Kevin Ethan Levin, if you don't give me a name right now, it's going to get very, very ugly." And her eyes narrowed further.

"Gwen." He tried to work his way around her, tried to get his hands on her hips, and tried to get her to let him go. She wasn't stronger than him, and he knew it. He could throw her halfway across the garage with just one vicious shove. He'd trained himself to limits far beyond human comprehension. "Gwen. I love you." He tried to make his words sound convincing and seductive. "I would never, ever lie to you." His eyes grew soft in a heartbeat and he made a smooth attempt at melting under her. With enough leverage, he could get his hands on her hips and maybe swindle a little kiss off of those pretty lips...

Again, he got slammed into the wall, her eyes changing from green to pink in a flash. "Name."

He cringed under her and immediately spewed out words. "Argit has the particle disintegrators, said he'd trade 'em to Vulkanus to get a few new hyperspace engines for the Rustbucket III, okay?" His words were almost whimpered.

The pink glow vanished from her eyes just as fast as it had appeared. One last shove, this one lighter, signaled her leaving. "You're in so much trouble when I get back, Kevin."

Slightly breathy, he called out "Love you too!" in a desperate attempt to salvage what little dignity he had left. Beaten by his own girlfriend.

She always knew.

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><p>It's the way she's overprotective.<p>

He walked back to the car with two smoothies in each hand and a piece of paper oh so faintly sticking out of his pocket along with a few green bills. "Mango for the lady," he said with his roguishly smile, offering her the drink. "I made sure they put extra sugar in there for ya. I may not be a smart man, but I know what my girl likes."

Instead of the drink, Gwen was reaching for his pocket.

A scowl twisted his lips. "Do I need to take your smoothie away? 'cause you aren't behavin'. I thought I was the criminal, but _no_, Gwen's takin' my money now 'cause I take her to a smoothie shack instead of a five-star restaurant." His dark eyes flared lightly with suppressed anger.

Gwen unfolded the bills and pulled out the white slip inside, immediately dropping the money in the black-topped parking lot and unfolding the paper.

With a huffed sigh, he put the drinks on the roof of the car and began to pick up the lost bills. "No, no worries, money is nothin' to me. You can drop it on the ground if you want, just go right on ahead, don't matter to-"

Her green glare fired up at him as she held out the slip. "Who's Courtney?" she asked, a sneer on her lips.

"I dunno." He was busy shoving his cash back in his pocket. "The girl at the counter, I think. I was kind of busy tryin' to remember what you liked in your smoothie rather than lookin' at the chick's name tag." His dark hair fell in one eye, and he brushed it away quickly only to see his redhead storming off towards the building. The way her fists were clenched, he only figured she was about to open a can of whoop-ass on the poor girl behind the counter. "Gwen, let's not get hasty! It's _my _job to do stupid stuff, remember?"

She never stopped.

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><p>It's fearlessness.<p>

There was always a day when he would ask himself if they were really ready to do anything for each other. It was usually rainy, and he was usually alone watching a static-filled television that wouldn't work with the bad weather. In the quiet, he'd sit and think and ask himself if he thought she would do anything for him.

She'd already braved her own insanity for him. She'd risked her humanity. She'd risked her life for him. Countless times. He could just sit there and imagine how her eyes would set with that familiar determination and glimmer with both pride and and greed, a wanting for something more, something higher. That was the way she was. And she would triumph.

The static continued to rumble on in the background, snow on a screen.

He would ask himself if he would do anything for her. And his head screamed that he would while his heart delayed, fear of other things holding him back. Fear of losing his mother. Fear for his sanity. Fear for the world.

But he would swallow all that down and tell himself he would do anything for her. Because he knew, deep within his soul, that she would do anything for him no matter what. Yet fear, a seed in his stomach, kept him from really being able to commit to her in such a way. He loved her more than she would ever know, but some part of his life were bound to come before her.

He was not fearless, but she was.

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><p>It's caring to the point of death.<p>

A deep gash cut across his forehead bled down his face, streaking his pale stony features with a little stream of crimson. The droplets of scarlet dripped down on her face and on her body as she lay in his arms. He shifted her unconscious form ever so gently before wiping the red droplets off of her and carrying on, trying to remain conscious himself.

Smoke stained the sky a black shade similar to the dark side of the moon. Night enveloping around them, he could only hope he was heading back towards civilization. She needed help, and he knew it. He was not a stupid man.

Another droplet of blood plopped onto her smoke-stained face. He wiped it away with the pad of his thumb and carried on, wondering if his badge was in his back pocket. Maybe he could call Ben for he-

The earth shook him off his feet as an explosion rocked the Plumber issue cruiser and blasted it into a fiery ball of metal shards and shrapnel. A red blaze broke out behind Kevin as he lay curled over his beloved, his only goal to keep her safe from whatever terrible fate the universe was plotting for her in this moment.

Fiery hot metal pieces dropped onto his skin like warm ash. Hisses of pain erupted from his lips, but he still shoved himself back to his feet and carried on, knowing these minor wounds meant nothing. Not as long as she was still breathing. He pushed on, hoping to see the road ahead and to lose track or the fire behind. As long as she was still breathing, his pain never mattered.

He watched as her chest rose and fell. He watched smoky air scarcely pass her lips into her lungs. Kevin pressed onward, never looking back, never faltering. The fire of agony all along his body meant nothing. The little pieces of burning metal were nothing. None of it meant anything.

He cared far too much.

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><p>It's compromise.<p>

Because movie nights were such a drag. Naturally, as an alien couple, they never had to worry about going on dates. They hung out in a car, ate burgers, and listened to a police scanner, waiting for something to show up, something they could fight.

It was the empty nights that were a bear to endure.

Movies, the ever-present date place of teenagers across America, were the bane of Kevin's existence.

Movies, the ever-present date place of teenagers across America, were the bane of Gwen's existence.

Kevin, the guy to naturally laugh at horror films and crack up at any other scary movie, would always want to be where the funny was at. He loved the adrenaline rush he could get from a Hollywood horror. And the laughs. God, he could laugh at that stuff for hours. Compared to the Null Void, "Paranormal Activity" was nothing. He thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Gwen was a die-hard for romantic comedies, like most teenage girls. Adam Sandler was always great in his role of "Mr. Deeds", and that was something Gwen loved: the concept of a great actor playing a great romantic. She didn't have to swoon at his abs or admire how great his clothes were. If the movie made her smile, that was all she asked for. Simple and fun, something that would make her remember specific quotes and details.

But it was compromise that kept them from going to either genre.

Halfway there, that was the compromise.

Kevin would release his love of laughing at a horror movie and move over to the lesser rush of an action flick. They weren't terrible. He just didn't like them.

Gwen had to do the same. Action was somewhere in the middle, a little bit of comedy, a little bit of love. It wasn't terrible. She just didn't like them.

That's why movie nights were such a bear. An usher usually prodded the two sleeping bodies awake, her head in the crook of his neck, his arm wrapped tightly around her fragile body.

It was just another movie night.

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><p>It's family.<p>

"I am convinced your parents hate me."

She bit her lower lip and breathed, "It's not that. It's just that they don't like you." Honesty was her best policy, yet she knew how much it hurt him to hear her say it.

His face fell. Putting it that way did not make the truth any easier to bear. He could act as prim and proper as a schoolboy and still get nowhere with her parents. They knew his past, they knew he'd tried to kill her once or twice, and they knew he was a bad kid. No matter what way you frame it, it would always look bad. Karma was catching up to him.

"Kevin, listen, it doesn't matter what they think." She leaned close to him as they walked through the dark; the crescent moon cast long black shadows behind them. "I love you, that's what really matters."

But it did matter. He wanted to be accepted. If he was going to keep Gwen forever, he wanted her parents to like him, he wanted her family to want him, he wanted to be loved so badly that it hurt. Knowing he wasn't part of their world was like being shut out of his own house again.

He would never tell her that. His mom loved her. His mom asked every night if Gwen wanted to come over for dinner. His mom wished Kevin would learn a few things from his redhead. Funny how his mom, after all the messed up stuff she'd been through, was so much more relaxed about everything than Gwen's parents were.

The Levin household scraped up money for all the monthly payments, usually making the boy scrounge for cash with buyers for extra car parts or stolen alien tech. They had stress levels through the roof with money issues and yet his mother would always ask the redhead if she wanted to come to dinner.

Gwen's house was fine. Her dad was lawyer. It was impossible to beat. Yet her parents were the most uptight pigs Kevin had ever met. He never held it against them. He was trying to steal their little girl. He never blamed them.

"Thanks, Gwen." He took her hand, pulled her in close, and kissed her cheek softly.

It did matter.

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><p>It's crazy and stupid.<p>

The music was cranked up way too loud as they raced down the streets in his car. He was driving way too fast too, but the windows were down, the music was streaming out into the streets, and he just didn't care.

He had his girl in the passenger seat, and her lips were forming words that he would never hear over the pounding of drums and the screams of guitars. He didn't even know what they were listening to, but as long as she was there, he didn't have to care.

The wind streamed through the window, warm from the summer night. The moon caught the windshield and glinted off of it, silver in the night. Gwen's red hair was everywhere, dancing in the strong breeze that blasted in.

She kept singing. He kept watching her. That was all they needed. Each other. They could go bowling, and it didn't matter. They could be in the garage, and it wouldn't matter. They could be in her room with their lips locked, and it wouldn't matter. Every crazy and stupid thing they did was because all they needed was this love to hold onto like it was the Holy Grail. This love was all they had to live for.

It was being crazy, being stupid, and being together.

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><p>For a long moment, Kevin thought. His gaze was cast towards the darkness, eyes trapped in a whirlwind of memories that he would never be able to shake. Finally, he reeled out of the cloud and back into the cool, crisp reality of their stakeout. His answer was simple and sweet.<p>

"I don't know."

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><p><strong>AN: Review?**

**~Sky**


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